HBA-JRA, RBT H.B. 3467 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3467
By: Pickett
Ways & Means
7/26/1999
Enrolled



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

According to Texas Department of Transportation officials, one
legally-loaded 80,000-pound truck causes road damage equivalent to 9,600
cars.  Overweight trucks cause even greater damage.  The overweight truck
problem is particularly acute on highways, bridges and city streets in
communities on the Texas-Mexico border, which handle 85 percent of all
U.S.-Mexico truck traffic. 

The Department of Public Safety and local police officers in certain cities
are responsible for enforcing truck weight limitations and issuing
citations to operators of overweight vehicles.  Prior to the 76th
Legislature, half of the proceeds from overweight vehicle fines imposed and
collected by county courts at law, justices of the peace, and municipal
courts were remitted to the state comptroller of public accounts and
deposited in the general revenue fund.  As a result, funds from overweight
vehicle fines which might otherwise be used by local governments in
economically disadvantaged border communities to repair road and bridge
damage were unavailable to them. 

H.B. 3467 requires the proceeds from overweight vehicle fines for offenses
that occur within 20 miles of an international border to be deposited for
the purposes of road maintenance with local governments.   

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Section 621.506(g), Transportation Code, to require a
fine assessed for an offense involving a vehicle having a gross weight that
is more than 5,000 pounds heavier than the vehicle's allowable gross weight
that occurs within 20 miles of an international border to be deposited in,
for the purposes of road maintenance, in the municipal treasury if the fine
was imposed by a municipal court or to the county treasury if the fine was
imposed by a justice court. 

SECTION 2.  Makes application of this Act prospective, to a fine collected
on or after the effective date, regardless of the date of the offense. 

SECTION 3.  Effective date: September 1, 1999.

SECTION 4.  Emergency clause.